Relief for the city’s most vulnerable population

The Yolo County Association of Realtors plans to donate $10,000 to the Yolo Crisis Nursery. The Yolo Crisis Nursery offers relief to families with small children, and the Yolo County Association of Realtors hopes to help the community in any way that it can.

Becky Heard, the vice president of the Yolo Crisis Nursery Board of Directors, noted that the nursery appreciates assistance from the community, as there are many families in need.

“Our nursery relies on the generosity of our community to keep our doors open,” Heard said, according to The Davis Enterprise. “Thank you for helping to make Yolo County a better place today and nurturing our future by supporting the youngest and most vulnerable members of our community. Last year we cared for 321 families, almost a new family every day. This gift will have a huge impact on the children and families we serve at the Nursery.”

Moreover, the Yolo Crisis Nursery aims to serve families at all times of the day.

“Parenting is hard,” according to Yolo Crisis Nursery’s press release. “Since 2001, The Yolo Crisis Nursery has been there to help. Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Nursery offers respite childcare for families in crisis with children ages birth through 5 years old.”

Nicholas Marin-Kumko, the executive director for Yolo County Association of Realtors, elaborated on the organization.

“Yolo County Association of Realtors is in charge of providing professional development training and education for the real estate community and industry in Yolo County,” Marin-Kumko said. “We also host other sorts of events like mixers, volunteer community events for our members so that they can get more involved in the community and network with each other as well.”

The Yolo Crisis Nursery can implement the funds in many areas to help families because they offer free services.

“In fact, 97% of our clients do not get referred to or go through Child Protective Services,” the press release states. “Our services are voluntary and free of charge. Without the generosity of groups like the Yolo County Association of Realtors and others in our community, the nursery would not exist.”

The Yolo County Association of Realtors ended up choosing the Yolo Crisis Nursery because they thought that the nonprofit fit its criteria.

“It’s not done randomly,” Marin-Kumko said. “Our board of directors at the beginning of each year goes out into the community and looks for different organizations and nonprofits in Yolo County that are underfunded or they need additional assistance. The nonprofit that gets chosen needs to either house, clothe or feed the community. It has to fall under one of those three categories.”

This nursery aims to provide a safer environment for families with children, so it falls under the categories listed for which the Yolo County Association of Realtors was looking.

The press release emphasized that “The Nursery offers wrap-around services to keep families together, help them navigate crises, and prevent child abuse and neglect. Our wrap-around services help parents resolve the problems that brought them to our door.”

Marin-Kumko further stated that the association provides funding to different organizations; however, they attained the funds differently this year for the nursery.

“In the past, we usually take money from our net profits from our charity golf tournament in October,” Marin-Kumko said. “This year, we decided to not only use the money at the golf tournament this October, but we also have another event called the poker run. It’s a smaller event that we do in the springtime. It’s not a huge money maker, but it’s an event that gets the real estate community together and network a little bit.”

Furthermore, a benefactor contributed.

“This was added to the total cost of the golf tournament as well as a third party of our members [who] also donated money that he collected,” Marin-Kumko said. “He was building an office, and he sold off the furniture — instead of keeping the money, he donated. These three different situations added to the whole pot.”

Overall, Marin-Kumko believed that the association made a good decision to help out the community.

“We reached out to them, and they do such good work in the community” Marin-Kumko said. “We heard that they are in the process of trying to expand as well. We thought that this was a perfect opportunity to contribute, so that they can expand their work and help the community and underfunded families and children. We saw the opportunity, and we thought it would be a great idea — that was what attracted us.”